Robert Clark

Photograph by Robert Clark

PUBLISHED April 25, 2016

Based in New York City, Robert Clark is a freelance photographer known for his innovation. He works with some of the world's leading magazines and publishing houses and on cutting-edge advertising campaigns.

Early in his career, Clark left the comfort and familiarity of newspapers to join H. G. "Buzz" Bissenger, author of Friday Night Lights, in documenting the lives of high-school football players and devotion to the game in Odessa, Texas. Bissenger's best-selling book was later made into a major motion picture as well as an NBC television series.

In 2003, an assignment with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, took Clark back to Texas to capture the first year of a new NFL team, the Houston Texans. The documentary and portraiture project resulted in one of the museum's most popular exhibits and the publication of a collectable, black-and-white photo book, First Down Houston: Birth of an NFL Franchise.

Clark was commissioned by Sony Ericsson to travel the United States for 50 days to document the beauty and diversity of America with only a cell-phone camera. This unique ad campaign, which was Clark's brainchild, generated a tremendous amount of coverage in major newspapers and on TV news programs. American Photo also featured each leg of his trip on the Web. His book about the assignment, Image America, developed into a gallery exhibit in New York City and became the first ever published photography book using cell-phone camera images.

Clark's work has won numerous awards. His coverage of the attack on the World Trade Center, witnessed from his rooftop in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, was recognized at the World Press Photo awards in Amsterdam. He also received a National Magazine Award for "Best Essay" for his National Geographic cover article, "Was Darwin Wrong?"

His photographs have graced some 40 book covers and more than a dozen National Geographic covers. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Time, Sports Illustrated, GEO, Vanity Fair, Stern, and Der Spiegel.

Currently involved in a variety of projects, Clark continues his association with National Geographic and is working on a book documenting the birth of the science of evolution. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Lai Ling.